GAME, SET & MATCH
“I practised and trained as hard as any boy, and I loved every minute of it.” – Margaret Molesworth
She could hit the ball as hard as any man, with a penetrating serve and a backhand so powerful it made her male doubles opponents tremble. When Margaret “Mall” Molesworth stepped onto the back court at White City Tennis Club in Sydney in December 1922, tennis history was made. Despite the restrictive dress code – full-length skirt, long-sleeved blouse, stockings, shoes and hat – Mall demolished Esna Boyd without dropping a set to become the first Australian women’s tennis champion. “I practised and trained as hard as any boy, and I loved every minute of it,” she reflected 60 years later. A century on, the Australian Open women’s competition has evolved from a sideline to the men’s games, shunted to the back courts, into an unmissable Grand Slam watched by millions. This year, hopes are high that world number one Ashleigh Barty just might be the first Aussie woman
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